{"id":2659,"date":"2021-12-13T15:22:59","date_gmt":"2021-12-13T20:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/?p=2659"},"modified":"2021-12-13T20:09:29","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T01:09:29","slug":"its-the-poverty-by-cherrie-moraga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/bliven\/its-the-poverty-by-cherrie-moraga\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s the Poverty\u201d by Cher\u2019rie Moraga"},"content":{"rendered":"

The poem \u201cIt\u2019s the Poverty,\u201d by Cher\u2019rie Moraga, which appears in the fall 1979 issue of the periodical, Sinister Wisdom<\/em>, explores the importance of preserving stories and culture from generation to generation. Moraga is a lesbian, Chicana poet and in her poem, she struggles with how to find the right language to express herself. If Moraga chooses to express all that she has lost due to the oppression she has faced, she risks \u201closing everything\u201d (Moraga Lawrence 84). By using a language that doesn\u2019t allow her to fully represent herself, she might \u201ccreate a monster\u201d from \u201cthe word’s length and body\u201d (Moraga Lawrence 84). That monster might begin \u201cswelling up colorful and thrilling\u201d (Moraga Lawrence 84). The power that is born from Moraga writing how she feels is symbolized by the monster created from the word.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Section of the poem, \u201cIt’s the Poverty\u201d by Cher’rie Moraga, from the fall 1979 issue of Sinister Wisdom<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

However, this power has unintended consequences. The monster begins \u201clooming over [her] mother\u201d and makes her mother’s voice \u201cunintelligible\u201d and \u201cilliterate\u201d (Moraga Lawrence 84). Moraga\u2019s mother is Mexican and the language she grew up with was Spanish (Anderson 6). Because of her cultural and linguistic background, Moraga\u2019s mother\u2019s stories don\u2019t fit into this version of language and the monster looks down on her mother because of that language difference. But Moraga\u2019s mother\u2019s stories are a fundamental part of Moraga\u2019s identity. Moraga sees her mother\u2019s stories and her own identity being lost if she chooses to use a language that doesn\u2019t allow for the full expression of her mother, herself or her culture. Moraga\u2019s poem highlights the struggle and importance of embracing multiple cultures. The Lesbian Herstory Archives also works to preserve the stories and identities of all lesbians, across cultures and generations. This preservation leads to connection between generations and cultures, which is vital to the success of the feminist movement.<\/p>\n

Works Cited:<\/p>\n

Anderson, Kelly. \u201cCher\u2019rie Moraga.\u201d Voices of Feminism Oral History Project, June 6-7, 2005, Oakland, CA, https:\/\/compass.fivecolleges.edu\/object\/smith:1342644.<\/p>\n

Moraga Lawrence, Cher\u2019rie. \u201cIt\u2019s the Poverty.\u201d Sinister Wisdom, no. 11, Oct. 1979, pp. 84-85, https:\/\/jstor.org\/stable\/10.2307\/community.28044739.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The poem \u201cIt\u2019s the Poverty,\u201d by Cher\u2019rie Moraga, which appears in the fall 1979 issue of the periodical, Sinister Wisdom, explores the importance of preserving stories and culture from generation to generation. Moraga is a lesbian, Chicana poet and in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2644,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bliven"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2644"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2659"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2874,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2659\/revisions\/2874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}